


You Don’t Have to Be Perfect

by SummerStormFlower



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: ADHD, Brotherly Fluff, Brothers, Comfort, Depression, Family Feels, Gen, Huey doesn’t do a very good job at taking care of himself, Hurt and comfort, mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22553308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerStormFlower/pseuds/SummerStormFlower
Summary: Huey has a lot of feelings when his mom comes back into his life. But he’s never been good at recognizing his own needs, so he holds it in until it explodes.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck
Comments: 15
Kudos: 138





	You Don’t Have to Be Perfect

Huey’s always been smart. He listens in class, does his homework, and reads for fun. He knows a lot of things. 

One thing he knows a lot about is mental health. The school counsellor was practically his best friend, since the only kids that liked him were his brothers. He would talk with her for hours on end, so he ended up learning a lot about psychology. As a result, he got good at taking care of people. 

Which came in very handy when Louie was diagnosed with depression and Dewey with ADHD. He knew what to say when Louie was having a bad day, and he knew what to do to help Dewey when he couldn’t focus. Even when it got really hard for all of them, Huey still knew how to make it better. He knew what to do when he caught Louie about to hurt himself, and he knew what to say when Dewey was crying because he couldn’t stop twitching.

When they moved in with Uncle Scrooge, he even got Scrooge and Donald to sit down and talk with him mediating, easing some of the tension of out their relationship. 

He knew how to comfort Webby when she lost Lena. 

There wasn’t a single problem Huey had come across that he couldn’t solve. Playing therapist just came naturally, and he knows he’d be good at it if he chooses to pursue a career in psychology in the future. 

But when their mom comes back, well... that throws him off his entire game. For the first time in his life, Huey doesn’t know what to do.

————————————————

Everything Huey knows about psychology and mental health is thrown out the window, when he sees his mother for the very first time. At first, he feels disbelief. Then he feels overwhelming happiness, and the next thing he knows he and his brothers are crying in Della’s arms. 

After Huey’s composed himself, he can analyze his feelings a little better. Beneath the happiness, is a box of hurt and anger he’s never had the need to open before. 

But it’s a lot harder to take care of himself than it is taking care of others. So he ignores the box. And focuses on Louie and Dewey when their fears and insecurities surface. 

He helps them slowly knit a relationship with their mom, and then slowly begin to bond with her. 

And Huey feels fine for awhile. 

————————————————

Until he’s not fine. He wakes up one beautiful morning, and it suddenly hits him. He’s angry at their mom. He’s angry at her for leaving them, for not being there, and then coming back and expecting everything to just be okay. Like ten whole years of missing a parent is no big deal. 

It’s not okay. Nothing is okay. Huey’s never felt like this before. Like his chest is about to explode. 

He keeps it in. He can’t let it out, not when everyone is doing so well. Tensions have died down and smiles have been easier. Huey can’t mess that up. 

So he just stays quiet. He doesn’t say anything. And he’s too busy making sure he doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t notice Dewey and Louie looking at him strangely. 

Eventually, the feeling like his chest’s about to explode does go away. But it’s replaced by an even worse feeling. Now he feels like he’s drowning, a wave of fear, sadness and worthlessness swallowing him whole. 

Why did she leave them? Didn’t she want them? Was it because of him? Was he not good enough? Did she not want him?

Everything gets to be too much. The whole day, the atmosphere, the movie they’re watching. Huey only realizes he’s crying when his cheeks are wet. 

“I’m tired! I’m going to bed!” he exclaims, hiding his eyes from his family and quickly running down the hall. 

Two sets of feet immediately run after him. 

————————————————

Huey knows he’s been followed. He’s not sure how he feels about that though, so he hides in the closet and tries to cry quietly.

“Huey?”

“Huey, where are you?”

It works for a little bit, but Huey can’t cry quiet enough and Dewey and Louie open the closet door. 

“Come on Hue, get out of there,” Louie says gently.

Huey just shakes his head. 

Louie shares a look with Dewey. Then Dewey kneels down and places a hand on Huey’s ankle. 

“We know why you’re sad,” he says, “You haven’t even let yourself acknowledge how you feel about Mom.”

“You’ve been too busy making everyone else happy.” Louie wraps his fingers around Huey’s arms, slowly undoes the death grip he has on his knees. “We’ve talked about this before. You need to stop putting others before your own needs.”

Huey sobs. “I can’t help it! I didn’t know what to do!” He hates this. He hates being seen like this, hates losing control, hates not being in charge of his emotions. 

“That’s why you talk to us,” Dewey says. His hand on Huey’s ankle is like an anchor, grounding him to reality, keeping him from getting lost inside his head. 

“You know this,” Louie says, drawing Huey into a hug he didn’t realize he needed. 

Huey latches onto Louie. “I just...” he sniffles, “just wanted to be happy that Mom was here. I didn’t want to deal with... all the damage stuff.”

“I wanted to do that too,” Dewey tells him, “but you said I wouldn’t be really happy then.”

Huey did remember saying that. 

“You also said that the damage has to be sorted through before we can be happy,” Louie adds. 

Huey remembered saying that too. Dammit, both his brothers were using his own words against him. 

“And you know what else you said?” Dewey asks.

Huey sighs. He knows. “To go talk to Mom.”

“Exactly.” 

Huey wipes at his eyes. A part of him is annoyed at his brothers, while another part of him is proud of them. And thankful to them. 

“I know. And I will,” he says, voice cracking as another wave of tears comes. It’s no surprise. He held it in until it had burst after all. “I-I just need a-a minute.” He buries his face in Louie’s hoodie. He needs this time to just feel all the overwhelming hurt in his chest. He’s deprived himself of it for too long. 

“Take all the time you need,” Louie says, “Mom’s here to stay.”

Hearing that eases some of Huey’s fear.

————————————————

Huey is asleep before the clock hand even hits seven pm. Neither Louie or Dewey is surprised. Huey doesn’t cry often, so it takes a lot out of him when he does. 

Huey’s dead weight is on Louie’s chest, his tears having wet his hoodie. Louie hopes he won’t drool. 

“Do you think he’ll actually talk to Mom?” Dewey asks, knowing how much Huey hates confrontation. 

“If he doesn’t do it himself, we’ll make him,” Louie replies. He’d done the same with them. “Now, help me get him to bed. He’s heavy.”

“No way! I’m not dragging him up the ladder!”

“I meant my bed, moron. I don’t wanna drag him up there either.”

“Ooh, I get top bunk then!”

“No, I get top bunk because Huey’s sleeping in my bed!”

“But I’m older!”

“Well, you sure don’t act it!”


End file.
